Not every personality we encounter in scripture is a positive role model. Some are just the opposite.

“for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.

— 2 Timothy 4:10

Four photographs hang on the wall in my office. Each captures an iconic moment in baseball history. Each reminds me of an important aspect of life and leadership. I shared their significance in my inaugural address. You can click here if you want to learn more.

These days I’m wondering if I should add another picture to my collection, that of Demas walking away.

Demas occupies a place of quiet significance in the New Testament narrative. He helped the Apostle Paul to such an extent that Paul identifies him by name in his greetings to the church in Colossae. Paul highlights Demas again when writing to his friend Philemon. Both these letters, written from prison, find Demas locked arm-in-arm with Paul advancing the gospel.

But something happened and it wasn’t good.

Paul is released from prison, apparently Demas as well. But then under the persecution of Nero, Paul finds himself back in the Roman slammer — this time without Demas.

Demas had enough. It was time to relax a bit. “Peace out!”

What follows from the pen of Paul haunts me these days.

Make every effort to come to me soon; for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. . . . only Luke is with me. 2 Timothy 4:9-10 NASB

Chrysostom, the early church father, paraphrases Paul’s words about Demas as follows:

“Having loved ease and safety, [Demas] chose rather to live daintily at home than to suffer affliction, than to endure hardship, with me, and with me to bear these present dangers.”

Demas is not the only runner to quit the marathon of faith. Look over on the side of the road. You’ll find Hezekiah there as well.

While Demas occupies a mere footnote of Scripture, Hezekiah is the subject of chapters. In fact, you’ll find a gold star next to his name. Hezekiah is a model for monarchs, the epitome of what a good king should be. Look what Scripture says about him:

Hezekiah trusted in the LORD . . . . There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the LORD and did not stop following him; he kept the commands of faith. And the LORD was with him . . . 2 Kings 18:5-7 NIV

Remember, Hezekiah followed David, “a man after God’s own heart.” He was a shining star . . . or was he a shooting star? As Hezekiah neared the end of his life God told him to put his house in order… his days would soon be over. Like most of us, Hezekiah was not ready to go. He cried out to the Lord!

“Remember, LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And he wept bitterly. 2 Kings 20:3 NIV

And God, in his graciousness, granted him an additional fifteen years of life. FIFTEEN YEARS! And God backed up his promise with a powerful sign of confirmation.

One would think the biblical account would read: ‘And Hezekiah followed God happily ever after!’ Right? Wrong! No sooner does God grant him more days, than Hezekiah begins to walk away from faith.

The son of the Babylonian king shows up on his doorstep. Babylon was having a hard time on the world stage, twice upended by Assyria. Hezekiah opens the door, welcomes him in, and shows off his ENTIRE kingdom: treasures of silver, gold, spices; his armory . . . “there was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.” 2 Kings 20:13

Foolish! Idiotic! Arrogant!

One commentator notes that Hezekiah was more intent about displaying his wealth than declaring God’s glory — and God had just blessed him with fifteen more years.

As might be expected, God was a little more than upset. He sends the prophet Isaiah to pronounce judgment. This is serious. Read the words carefully, and then even more carefully, read Hezekiah’s response:

“Hear the word of the Lord: The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

“The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?” 2 Kings 20:16-19 NIV

You can hear Hezekiah paying lip service to God, but in his heart he is not too bothered. It won’t happen in his lifetime. “Let the good times roll! I’ve got fifteen more years!”

It is not lost on me that Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh, who was born in that fifteen year stretch and would follow his father to the throne, was the worst king in Judah’s history. How bad was he? Scripture says “he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood.” ”He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.” 2 Kings 21:5 NIV

I’ve heard it asked, “Why is it that opportunity knocks once, but temptation pounds on my door every day?” Hezekiah gave into that insistent pounding. So did Demas. They quit the race!

I don’t want to join them on the side of the road.

So how do one cultivate faithfulness? I’ve been thinking about that this morning. My list is not exhaustive. What would you add to it?

Revel in God’s goodness: I have a tendency to think what I must do to maintain my walk with God, so it is imperative to remember what Christ has done and is doing for me. Paul writes, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him” (Colossians 2:6 NIV). MacLaren notes, “As in wisdom so in character, all progress consists in coming closer to Jesus and receiving more and more of His many-sided grace.” I was saved by God’s grace. I need to rest in God’s grace, and live by God’s grace.”
Cling to the Vine: Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing“ (John 15:5 NIV). George Müller said, “the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord.” Müller’s words come back to me time and again, especially when I think “I don’t have time to meet with God today!” He would tell me, “You can’t afford NOT to meet with the Lord.”
Take appropriate times to rest: Jesus said to his disciples, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6:31). My friend Wayne Cordeiro wisely says that when life gets exceptionally busy, you must actually “increase play.” This is counterintuitive, but so important. Watch his talk, “Dead Leader Running.” It is excellent.
Embrace community: On two occasions, Paul wrote, “The brothers and sisters who are with me send greetings” (Philippians 4:21. See also Galatians 1:2). Study Paul’s life. He lived in community. He served in community. Paul knew we are not meant for isolation. Isolation should be an occasional rest stop on the road of life, not one’s destination.

Cultivate faithfulness . . . or join Demas and Hezekiah on the side of the road.

The day before yesterday, I met a member of our Board of Trustees coming out of our office complex as I was walking in. This man can add “octogenarian” to a long list of accomplishments. He is as wise and winsome as the day is long. His handshake is a vice grip. More importantly, his grip on Christ and what matters is equally strong.

This man is still running with perseverance, eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2). I don’t want to be Demas. I want to be where my older friend is, where Paul was — faithfully running the race — until the very end.

Notes:

“Chrysostom, the early church father, paraphrases Paul’s words . . .” from Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (2 Timothy 4:10). http://www.biblehub.com. Accessed September 21, 2022.
“MacLaren notes, ‘As in wisdom’ . . .” from MacLaren’s Expositions (Colossians 2:6). http://www.biblehub.com. Accessed September 22, 2022.
“the first great and primary business . . .” from George Müller, Soul Nourishment First, A booklet by George Müller. May 9, 1841.

The Difficult Trial of Continued Success

Filed under: Christianity - Devotions — paulthinkingoutloud @ 5:35 pm
Tags: daily Bible study, forgetting God, Hezekiah, humility, life of faith, pride

As you’ll see, today’s title is not a mistake.

Although since our last visit the site hasn’t been active for several months, there is a wealth of material at Thomas Mathew’s Believer Blogs. Click the title below to read at source.

Handling Success – Trial of Faith Series

2 Ki 18:7a And the LORD was with him [Hezekiah]; he was successful in whatever he undertook.

In the last message we looked at Peter’s life to learn God’s plan for us in the face of our failures. Today, let’s look at the next trial of our faith. Success.

In some candid discussions with many true men of God, I have come to the conclusion that Success is a more difficult trial of faith than failure. The danger of going through failure is that you may fall prey to unbelief and become bitter towards God. It may happen to a few people, but the common response for failure is that it drives us back towards God. What is the usual result of success? The normal believer tends to become proud, his heart is lifted up and he forgets the God who gave him the success in the first place. It takes a very tender heart to maintain that humility before God and give Him the glory for any success which He has granted us. Let’s look at the example from the life of King Hezekiah.

The Lord was with him

The name Hezekiah means “Yahweh is my Strength”. True to his name, the Lord did mighty things through this wonderful king. If you read from 2 Kings 18:3-8, we note the following things about his blessed reign.

2 Ki 18:3– He did right in the eyes of the Lord (as David)
2 Ki 18:4– he eradicated idolatry in all known forms, even destroying the bronze serpent which had existed as an idol for nearly 1000 years!
2Ki 18:5– He trusted the Lord and the word of God declares him to be a king unlike any other before or after him.
2 Ki 18:6– He held fast to the Lord and didn’t cease to follow Him. He kept the commandments of the Lord
2 Ki 18:7– The Lord was with Him and therefore, he was successful in all his endeavors.
2 Ki 18:8– He didn’t bow down before the Syrian kings and defeated philistines across their borders.

A man whom the Lord honors and protects!

Truly, he was one of the best kings to grace the throne of Israel. There is a touching account of the King of Syria threatening to annihilate Israel. 2 Chr 32:1 (read from v1 to v19) Hezekiah prayed to the Lord (2 Chr 32:20) and the Lord sent an angel which consumed 185,000 soldiers of Syria (2Chr 32:21). I especially loved the Word of God which says 2 Chr 32:22

So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all others. He took care of them on every side.

If we have any doubt concerning this, the Lord says: it is He who delivered the nation. Not the might of armies or the wisdom of a king. But the end result of this deliverance was that the fame of Hezekiah spread far and wide and many came to him with precious gifts and he was highly regarded by all nations. (2 Chr 32:23)

The beginning of the end – Pride

Alas, the result of such fame was a falling away. 2 Chr 32:25 says:

But Hezekiah’s heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the LORD’s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.

The result of that wrath was an illness which came to the King and he was near death. he prayed to the Lord and the lord answered him and gave him a miraculous sign. (Read 2 Ki 20:1-11) And he repented of the pride in his heart (2 Chr 32:26) and the Lord’s wrath didn’t appear to them in that generation. But the result of this prayer was an increase of his life by 15 years. That led him to commit even more mistakes in his later years and he also fathered Manasseh. (If you read 2 Chr 33:1-11, you can see the amount of evil that this young king heaped on himself and Israel) While Hezekiah accomplished much in the secular realm in the added years(2 Chr 32:27-30), we see the steady decline of his spiritual life as the end comes.

The end – God leaves him to test his heart

2 Chr 32:31 But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart.

When God leaves us to test us, he expects us to rely on what He has taught us in the past. He expects us to use the wisdom and unction that He deposited in us prior to the test. It is for us to understand the contents of our heart more clearly. 2 Ki 20:13 says – he exposed every little bit of his kingdom to the envoys of the enemy as a result of his pride and that mistake was instrumental in the nation being carried away to Babylon at a later point in time.

What is our lesson from this?

Do I write all this to diss a godly king ? Am I magnifying his mistakes ? Am I trying to erase the good he has done by focusing on his mistakes? Not at all! I believe all scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for our instruction, correction and reproof. It is good for us to take valuable lessons from all these scriptures because we are near the end times. (1 Cor 10:11). Where Hezekiah pleased God, let us desire to imitate his life. Where he fell short of the glory of God, let us take it as a precious example to guard against. Remember, if a spiritual giant like he could fall, so could we! Am I against success? Not at all! I desire success and I believe it is the plan of God for all his disciples to enjoy success. That’s why the precious promises are given to the victors (7 letters of revelation + Rev 21:7). But in our successes that we enjoy, do not forget to attribute glory and honor and praise and thanksgiving to the One who made it possible for us. As Jesus said: Without me, you can do nothing! My prayer is that however well we have begun our spiritual race, God give us the grace to fight the good fight, finish our race and keep the faith and to appropriate the eternal rewards kept for us (2 Tim 4:7)